Whomever Designed the Quest "In God's Hands...."

[Edward ♃]

This is by far the most obnoxious and poorly designed quest I've ever played in any RPG.
Experienced players have pointed it out that it should not be started until Henry has at least 15 speech.

Things that happened to me during this quest.

• failed to save the broken leg guy because I ignored him.
  
• failed to make the lullaby potion twice
  
• Mutt ran away because I didn't feed him... twice.
  
• The Priest for Rovna was the easiest part of this quest.
  
• The Custodian is the single most annoying NPC in the game and I reloaded saves to beat him to death with a mace multiple times.

[Marduc]

Well, I really enjoyed. And I would love to see what's really poorly desgned in the quest.

[Edward ♃]

Originally posted by Marduc:

Well, I really enjoyed. And I would love to see what's really poorly desgned in the quest.

It is a timed quest. 5 days minimum. On Hardcore that is likely lowered to 3...

The speech check with the custodian has a 99% fail rate. Even with 15+ Speech
Choosing any option but submission = Forced 24h Jail Time. ONLY Case in the game.

Johanka is ungrateful and chastises Henry for calling the Custodian "obnoxious" When he's really calling the entire quest obnoxious.


You're forced to do another quest entirely. "A Man of the Cloth" To save one of the Patients.
That quest is easy, but In God's Hands is timed. Meaning you have to go to the North Skalitz forest just for one guy. it's a "Slog" quite literally.

[Marduc]

Not liking timed quests don't equate to bad design.

You don't need to suceceed in the speech check. I've failed all the time that I played and I always achieved the very best result. And even if you succeed the checks, you still get negative outcomes. The only "correct" choice is to do nothing. There are several examples of this throughout the game. It's telling you that your stats cannot magically resolve every situation just because the option is presented. You may not like that game design, but it is intentional. They want you to hate him.

It's her personality. She's completely frayed out from all the experiences, and as a young woman, she can't handle it. She even has guilt between her self and the Custodian, which comes out as emotional outbursts towards you; again, just like a young woman. If you do her DLC, you'll feel extremely compelled by what happens. Amazing writing, and every decision you make matters and drastically changes the outcome of her DLC.

Again, not liking timed quests doesn`t make something bad designed.

I understand that this specific quest change the passe of the game drastically, is one of the only quests that you need to run. But I found it interesting because of it.

Ps. some parts of the response I took from Judeo-communism in other discussion. He answered much better than I.

[Khalunka]

Originally posted by Edward ♃:

Originally posted by Marduc:

Well, I really enjoyed. And I would love to see what's really poorly desgned in the quest.

It is a timed quest. 5 days minimum. On Hardcore that is likely lowered to 3...

The speech check with the custodian has a 99% fail rate. Even with 15+ Speech
Choosing any option but submission = Forced 24h Jail Time. ONLY Case in the game.

Johanka is ungrateful and chastises Henry for calling the Custodian "obnoxious" When he's really calling the entire quest obnoxious.


You're forced to do another quest entirely. "A Man of the Cloth" To save one of the Patients.
That quest is easy, but In God's Hands is timed. Meaning you have to go to the North Skalitz forest just for one guy. it's a "Slog" quite literally.

We usually complete "A Man of the Cloth" before "In Gods Hands". Makes things easier. But in the first time, a player playing blindly without googling about anything, It can be tough indeed.

I also HATE timed quests. Never liked them. I remember how I also hated them in Outward and many other games. But Johanka's writing makes sense. Yes, I dont like her. But ''make sense" if you count everything that happened to her and how she cant handle it properly. (as most people/women would not). This quest could've received a little bit of more thought, more freedom and more time. I think developers balanced it wrongly, but Its manageable at least. Its not impossible ot that much harder, sadly, only after you understand how things works.

[Edward ♃]

Originally posted by Marduc:

Not liking timed quests don't equate to bad design.

You don't need to suceceed in the speech check. I've failed all the time that I played and I always achieved the very best result. And even if you succeed the checks, you still get negative outcomes. The only "correct" choice is to do nothing. There are several examples of this throughout the game. It's telling you that your stats cannot magically resolve every situation just because the option is presented. You may not like that game design, but it is intentional. They want you to hate him.

I didn't ask for a cope response just because there's a terrible quest hated by the community in your beloved game.
Stats variables shouldn't be presented if the only good option is to do nothing. It's called poor design. And you're defending a worthless position.
This is my main complaint and you failed to address it correctly. Therefore the quest is bad and poorly designed.

[Khalunka]

Originally posted by Edward ♃:

Originally posted by Marduc:

Not liking timed quests don't equate to bad design.

You don't need to suceceed in the speech check. I've failed all the time that I played and I always achieved the very best result. And even if you succeed the checks, you still get negative outcomes. The only "correct" choice is to do nothing. There are several examples of this throughout the game. It's telling you that your stats cannot magically resolve every situation just because the option is presented. You may not like that game design, but it is intentional. They want you to hate him.

I didn't ask for a cope response just because there's a terrible quest hated by the community in your beloved game.
Stats variables shouldn't be presented if the only good option is to do nothing. It's called poor design. And you're defending a worthless position.
This is my main complaint and you failed to address it correctly. Therefore the quest is bad and poorly designed.

You asked his opinion, he gave it. You dont need to be so stupidly arrogant and ignorant about it. Never create a discussion forum ever again if you are not ready to discuss the topic.

[Edward ♃]

Originally posted by Khalunka:

You asked his opinion, he gave it. You dont need to be so stupidly arrogant and ignorant about it. Never create a discussion forum ever again if you are not ready to discuss the topic.

I'm going to respond to stupidity with arrogance.
The response he gave was insufficient.
And he arrogantly dismissed my complaints.
Like the fact that timed quests have no indicator.
It's amusing how you get 7 days for most of them but this one is remarkably low. It should've been a optional beginning quest in Talmberg.
And if they're going to do a forced 24 Jail sequence for picking the wrong dialogue option.
It would've been better to do that at the beginning of the game in Rattay when Hans Capon Hazes Henry.

Edit: TL:DR "In God's Hands..." Is a bad quest with poor design and writing.

[Judeo-communism]

You made several mistakes and blame the game. lmao

[SympliKrazi]

ok, i see that perspective, sort of. Failing due to rng or Henry's low stats sucks.
and perhaps I didnt finish the monastery quest lines or something.... but what does Mutt have to do with it?

[Red Phantom]

I had no idea this quest was timed, failed the speech check with the Custodian, went to jail, had to go off and find the priest, came back, and still saved everyone in time (even though I had no idea there was a time limit until afterwards).

[Edward ♃]

Originally posted by Judeo-communism:

You made several mistakes and blame the game. lmao

"In Gods Hands" is a mistake lmao

Originally posted by SympliKrazi:

but what does Mutt have to do with it?

I ignored him to do the Man of the Cloth Quest and didn't feed him for 2 days which drops obedience.

[Judeo-communism]

Originally posted by Edward ♃:

"In Gods Hands" is a mistake lmao

It's not. I always do it every time I replay the game because I love it so much. And I know not to get involved with the Custodian because he's designed to be hated. Which makes the second half of A Woman's Lot that much more compelling.

[Edward ♃]

Originally posted by Judeo-communism:

It's not. I always do it every time I replay the game because I love it so much. And I know not to get involved with the Custodian because he's designed to be hated. Which makes the second half of A Woman's Lot that much more compelling.

You already answered why it's bad in your own response. "I know not to get involved."
Because you know the 24h forced Jail sequence is Poor Game Design
Characters like Zbyshek, Pavel (Pious) and The Vicar were better written as designed to be hated
The Custodian being a Janny is just the game slapping the player for accomplishing a task.

Edit: I'm glad I ignored this quest-line completely in my 1st play-through. The rewards for the effort involved are pitiful.
Theresa's story is the only fun part of Woman's Lot DLC.

[danilo.schoeneberg]

Originally posted by Edward ♃:

This is by far the most obnoxious and poorly designed quest I've ever played in any RPG.
Experienced players have pointed it out that it should not be started until Henry has at least 15 speech.

Things that happened to me during this quest.

• failed to save the broken leg guy because I ignored him.
  
• failed to make the lullaby potion twice
  
• Mutt ran away because I didn't feed him... twice.
  
• The Priest for Rovna was the easiest part of this quest.
  
• The Custodian is the single most annoying NPC in the game and I reloaded saves to beat him to death with a mace multiple times.

This quest is actually ridiculously easy, if you have a high speech stat and can ignore Johanka's obnoxcious attitude. You can finish it in a single day:

Start early (7am). Speak to Johanka, then Nicodemus. Then go and inspect/speak to all wounded. You should be able to rebandage Hans right away. You always have bandages with you, don't you? You should also be able to set Thomas' leg straight away. If Henry has a high enough stat for speech, he also has First Aid III under main level. Else you have to hightail it back to Rattay and speak to the executioner, who'll explain it to you. Now speak to Johanka and get an earful, again.

Next stop: Father Simon in Rovna. You will most likely have to bash you way through up to three battle spots, but Henry should be a one-man army at that point anyway. He'll give you the Artimisia receipe. If you don't have the receipe for Lullaby potion, you'll get it from Nicodemus by talking to him about the insomniac. If you don't have the ingredients on you, which you should, you can buy them from Nicodemus. Make the two potions and use a bard potion on yourself.

Give the lullaby to the insomniac, a unit of comfrey to semek and administer the Artemisia potion to philip. Somewhere along the line the custodian barges in. Deal with him.

Since you now have to wait for the results of your work, ride outside in the direction of Rovna. As you enter the forest, there is a red deer hunting spot on the right side. Shoot one and collect the 100 meat for Johanka. By that time your results are coming in.

Go back, give Johanka the meat, and speak to all the people you treated. Go to the custodian house and talk to him about supplies. If you didn't waste time on the hunt, your bard potion is still active. so you can easily convince him. Now go back to speak to Johanka and Nicodemus and bob's your uncle.

Btw. I wrote all that down from memory. After 4.000 playing hours you know most of the quest inside and out.

[Judeo-communism]

Originally posted by Edward ♃:

Originally posted by Judeo-communism:

It's not. I always do it every time I replay the game because I love it so much. And I know not to get involved with the Custodian because he's designed to be hated. Which makes the second half of A Woman's Lot that much more compelling.

You already answered why it's bad in your own response. "I know not to get involved."
Because you know the 24h forced Jail sequence is Poor Game Design
Characters like Zbyshek, Pavel (Pious) and The Vicar were better written as designed to be hated
The Custodian being a Janny is just the game slapping the player for accomplishing a task.

Edit: I'm glad I ignored this quest-line completely in my 1st play-through. The rewards for the effort involved are pitiful.
Theresa's story is the only fun part of Woman's Lot DLC.

It's not bad game design. Johanka already tells you to not get involved, and you've already heard the reputation of him being an obnoxious corrupt noble, so you get punished for poor decision making. Exactly like what would happen in real life. The game isn't bad, you are.